1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mechanisms and methods for facilitating connection of a telecommunications cable to outside plant equipment. More particularly, the present invention provides a telecommunications cable or cable section for connection with telecommunications or signaling equipment or other outside plant equipment, wherein the cable comprises a braided or mesh protective sheathing, rather than solid metal protective sheathing or armor, that greatly increases the cable's flexibility and facilitates accommodating alignments or orientations of up to approximately 180° between the cable and the outside plant equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the telecommunications industry, signal transmission equipment located between central offices and between central offices and end users is termed “outside plant” equipment. This equipment is connected to or interfaced with a system or network using cables or other transmission lines. Outside plant equipment may include, for example, telecommunications, signaling, and other electronic equipment housed in protective enclosures which are often mounted on telephone poles above-ground or within subterranean manholes below ground. For example, ever-increasing use of wide area networks (WANs), particularly the Internet, and other telecommunication innovations has increased demand for high-speed, high-bandwidth digital telecommunications services, such as ISDN, (X)DSL, and T1, in homes and businesses. Due to signal propagation limitations, these digital services require special electronic equipment, including electronic signal repeaters and doublers, located at or within specific distance intervals from a provider's central office and operable to repeat signals for end-users who would otherwise be outside of the signal propagation limits.
It will be appreciated that such outside plant equipment may be exposed to a harsh environment, and must therefore be designed to withstand both vandalism and natural hazards such as, for example, earthquakes, flooding, extreme hot and cold temperatures, and wildlife. Similarly, the cable connecting the outside plant equipment with a trunk line of the system or network is typically constructed to include a solid metal protective sheathing or armor that substantially protects against the aforementioned hazards and substantially reduces or eliminates electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Unfortunately, solid metal protective sheathing also makes the cable extremely stiff and inflexible. While stiff cable may be useable for long straight runs, it can make connecting to the outside plant equipment extremely difficult. For example, where one of the aforementioned protective enclosures is mounted on a telephone pole, the cable may approach the enclosure from above, for aerial transmission lines, or below, for buried transmission lines, or where the enclosure is mounted in a manhole, the cable may approach the enclosure from virtually any direction. Thus, due to mounting, space, and other constraints, it may be desirable and sometimes necessary to connect the cable to a side or portion of the enclosure that is substantially different from or even opposite the cable's alignment or orientation. This may require bending the cable up to 180° in a very small space. Unfortunately, it is often extremely difficult, time-consuming, and inconvenient or even impossible to bend the extremely stiff cable in a sufficiently tight radius so as to accomplish the connection.
Due to the above-identified and other limitations of the current art, a need exists for an improved cable or mechanism or method for connecting the cable with the outside plant equipment.